I haven't seen this topic discussed, and since it's new to the beta it seems worth considering. Every class has 6 inventory slots, each of which is one of three types: physical, magical, or combination physical/magical. Every item is one of four types: physical, magical, combination, or small (potions, etc.). Magical items cannot go in physical slots and physical items cannot go in magical slots, but they can all go in combination slots; combination and small items can go in any slot. Combo slots are objectively better than any other kind; magical slots are probably slightly more valuable in a vanilla run since glyphs are more common than equipment, while physical slots become more valuable as you use more preparations.

Here are the inventory slots for each class:

Fighter3 magical 3 physical

Berserker2 combination 4 physical

Warlord2 combination 2 magical 2 physical

Thief3 combination 3 physical

Rogue3 magical 3 physical

Assassin1 combination 2 magical 3 physical

Priest3 magical 3 physical

Monk4 combination 1 magical 1 physical

Paladin2 combination 2 magical 2 physical

Wizard2 combination 4 magical

Sorcerer2 combination 2 magical 2 physical

Bloodmage2 combination 1 magical 3 physical

I haven't actually noticed much difficulty with item management so far, except in two situations: when bringing in a lot of equipment in preparations, or when worshiping Taurog. Taurog's equipment is all combination, so class doesn't have any effect there.

Still, some of the class layouts seem a little odd to me. Monks have probably the best of the bunch, with more combo slots than any other class; since Monks are one of the more powerful classes as it is, and it's a little weird for that character archetype to equip a Really Big Sword and a full suit of armor, so I could see making most of their slots magical-only. Fighters, Rogues, and Priests are the only classes with no combo slots, which is a little weird since none of those classes are particularly overpowered and Fighters and Rogues in particular are fairly versatile classes that rely on both might and magic.

I also wonder if it would be feasible to have a different total number of slots for certain classes? One of the big selling points for Wizards in the alpha was their ability to hold four glyphs at once rather than three, and although the loss of that strength that's been taken into account with their +5 MP per conversion and now they are the only class that can hold six glyphs at once (if you want to, but I can't see that being practical very often), it was interesting to have that kind of variation. I could see Tinkers and maybe Thieves having additional slots, and Monks and maybe Berserkers having fewer.

That's about all I can think of to say at the moment, especially since inventory management is still such a non-issue. If Tinkers or Glitterfinger ever return, or as more items and/or preparations are added, it will probably become more important.

The only time I ever notice this is when using the bloodmage. Given that bloodpowa already takes up one magic slot, you only have 2 slots left over for glyphs. This doesn't really seem like enough for a mage class although maybe it's by design and it was too powerful otherwise but this is pretty much the main reason I don't really use bloodmage.

Nandrew wrote:This is an interesting discussion, and one that I'm sure will crop up again with greater intensity once the item/quest pool expands further.

I think, for the time being, we're still at the stage where most of the powerful stuff come from Taurog, which isn't sensitive to inventory slots. We'll see how that changes as time moves along.

Personally this is one feature that I'm not very fond of, because it subtracts from the game instead of adding something. Even though it works in a similar way like "only Wizard can have four glyphs" in the free version, it doesn't feel like that way.

Most of the time even without the limitation the player has the tendency to "play by the rules", because, well, melee classes in herently have a lower need for glyphs and more need for equipment! A Berserker holding more than two glyphs is still a lousy caster, and a Wizard with a sword a mace and a shield is probably not utilising glyphs enough, and still a lousy fighter. Playing against class orientation is mostly a poor choice, and 99 out of 100 times you won't do it, but once in a blue moon it becomes an awesome choice. Why stop the player from trying something "strange"? Why not leave that choice to the player? Please?

One change I'd really like is the ability to buy things from shops even if they won't fit in my inventory. Often the only reason I'm buying something is to convert it (by the by, the conversion value for a Bloody Sigil is kind of ridiculous given how cheap it is; the fact that you can buy it at a low level and then discard it once the drawback outweighs the benefit alone makes it worth a lot more than 8 gold, getting a huge number of conversion points as well is just too much IMO). Of course, at the moment this is usually only a problem with Taurog worshipers.

I also agree that the Bloodmage could use an extra magic or combination slot, especially since his signature glyph isn't much use unless you have... other glyphs.

I'll add another vote to the "do away with physical and magic slots" crew. Its only purpose I can see is to keep me from having unexpected class loadouts...and I think things like trying to make a melee wizard are great. Certainly not worth the complexity and confusion.